What to Do After an 18-Wheeler Crash on the Katy Freeway
By Jeff McCarthy, Managing Partner — former Harris County prosecutor and former insurance-defense trial attorney. Last reviewed August 1, 2026.
The Katy Freeway — I-10 west of downtown — is one of the widest highways in the world and one of the busiest freight corridors in Texas. When a passenger car and an 80,000-pound 18-wheeler collide there, what happens in the first two weeks decides much of what the case is ultimately worth. This is the checklist we wish every injured driver had on day one.
First 48 hours: medicine and evidence
- Get examined the same day, even if you walked away. Serious injury — especially brain and spine — often announces itself late, and a gap in treatment is the first thing the trucking insurer will use against you.
- Photograph everything you safely can: vehicle positions, trailer markings and DOT numbers, skid marks, debris fields, and your injuries.
- Record the exact location — which segment of the Katy Freeway, direction, exit, managed lanes or main lanes. It determines which TxDOT and toll cameras captured the crash.
- Get every witness’s name and number. On a road this busy there are always witnesses; they rarely make it into the report.
- Say nothing to the trucking company’s insurer. Their rapid-response team may reach out within hours, sounding concerned. Decline politely and hang up.
Week one: the preservation letter
The evidence that proves a truck case — electronic driver logs, engine control module downloads, dashcam footage, dispatch records, drug-and-alcohol test results — belongs to the trucking company, and retention periods can be measured in weeks. A spoliation letter from your lawyer legally obligates the carrier to preserve all of it. In our view this is the single most time-sensitive step in any 18-wheeler case, and the reason to involve counsel before you feel “ready.”
Why Katy Freeway truck cases have deep pockets — and deep defenses
Commercial carriers on I-10 run layered insurance programs that can reach into the tens of millions, and liability often extends beyond the driver — to the motor carrier, the trailer owner, the shipper who loaded the cargo, maintenance contractors, and sometimes a freight broker. Each defendant brings coverage; each also brings defense lawyers. Since Texas’s HB 19, trucking defendants can also split the trial into two phases to keep corporate conduct away from the jury deciding fault — a structure their insurers use deliberately. Our 18-wheeler accidents guide covers how we build cases inside those rules.
The deadlines that actually matter
Texas generally allows two years to file suit — but the practical deadlines are the retention clocks on electronic evidence, and the 90-day and six-month notice rules that apply when a governmental vehicle is involved. Details in our explainer on Texas injury claim deadlines.
If an 18-wheeler hurt you or someone you love on the Katy Freeway — or anywhere in Texas — the carrier’s team started working the day of the crash. Get a free case review or call (713) 300-8304, answered 24 hours a day. No fee unless we win; if there is no recovery, you owe us nothing — no attorney’s fees and no expenses.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Every case is different. Full legal notices.